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One month ago, Microsoft raised the curtain on its Surface with Windows RT and impressed the tech community with an offering that has been well received by many in the short time the tablet has been on the scene. Now, Microsoft is ready for another big push.

Wasting none of this established momentum, Microsoft said this week that it will launch Surface with Windows 8 Pro this coming January. Today on the official Microsoft Blog, pricing details finally accompanied the touted release of the Surface Pro tablet.

Here's what we can tell you. The 64GB standalone version will be priced at $899. The 128GB standalone version will, naturally, cost more and come with a price tag set at $999. Microsoft says that both versions come with a Surface pen with Palm Block technology and "include the ability to use a Touch Cover or Type Cover" - but those are still sold separately.

Surface with Windows 8 Pro uses the same familiar elegant design principles as Surface with Windows RT including the Dark Titanium VaporMg casing, dual 2x2 MIMO antennas designed specifically for Surface and of course the kickstand.

Not surprisingly, everyone isn't a fan of the price tags unveiled today.

“At that price, by the time you add the keyboard you’re at the price of an 11-inch MacBook,” Wes Miller, an analyst at Kirkland, tells Bloomberg. “Everyone always says, ‘well, Apple is so expensive,’ but here we are in that same neighborhood looking at houses."

What is with all the love for the keyboard? Is there something this keyboard can do that my Bluetooth keyboards can't? There are many Bluetooth keyboards that are also cases that hold a tablet so they are connected. This is nothing new to me. I would love to have a surface pro to run all of my windows applications, but at 3.5 hours of battery it is completely useless to me. Hopefully that is a harsh stress test...

Seems like the supporters of the tablet at this pricing plan have lost sight of the fact that its not that great of a tablet. Also, this thing runs a specially skinned version of windows 8, not windows 8 full. Lets not forget how horrific windows mobile software has been historically... In essence, this is an iPad, priced 50 bucks higher, with an inferior operating system and a limited-functionality Dev circle. In no way does this device come close to competing with the iPad, unfortunately.

This is probably why Microsoft has less than 4% hardware or software market share in the smart phone industry...

Seems like the supporters of the tablet at this pricing plan have lost sight of the fact that its not that great of a tablet. Also, this thing runs a specially skinned version of windows 8, not windows 8 full. Lets not forget how horrific windows mobile software has been historically... In essence, this is an iPad, priced 50 bucks higher, with an inferior operating system and a limited-functionality Dev circle. In no way does this device come close to competing with the iPad, unfortunately.

This is probably why Microsoft has less than 4% hardware or software market share in the smart phone industry...

Says full Windows 8 Pro on their website. Where are you seeing that it is a cut down version of Windows 8.

People talk about portability. Don't think that people realize you can get a MacBook Air that is only 1 inch wider and deeper than the surface.

Also is only .3 inches thicker and weighs less than 1lbs more than the surface and has the exact same resolution For 1099.00. This is also for 128 flash storage. 4 gig ram and an i5 processor

Ok so it doesn't have a touch screen. Guess what everyone. Windows and osx apps are built for a mouse not a finger. It will be much more difficult to use a full blown OS with your finger than a mouse.

Also I would like to see someone sit on a couch or something and be able to use the surface with its kickstand and keyboard on your lap. To me the design is only built for a flat surface.

Also not to mention only one view angle.

Sure you can take off the keyboard and use as a tablet so I guess that is what this has going for it

In my opinion for 1099 plus 330 you can get an air and an iPad mini and have the best of both worlds. Also a huge plus for iOS users is I can answer FaceTime and iMessages on any apple iOS devices or osx mountain lion device. As well as view all my photostream instantly.

Just my thoughts though. Sorry for any bad grammar. I'm just dumb haha

Seems like the supporters of the tablet at this pricing plan have lost sight of the fact that its not that great of a tablet. Also, this thing runs a specially skinned version of windows 8, not windows 8 full. Lets not forget how horrific windows mobile software has been historically... In essence, this is an iPad, priced 50 bucks higher, with an inferior operating system and a limited-functionality Dev circle. In no way does this device come close to competing with the iPad, unfortunately.

This is probably why Microsoft has less than 4% hardware or software market share in the smart phone industry...

And it's still can run any Windows desktop applications. Can IPad run OSx programs ??? You wish.

Says full Windows 8 Pro on their website. Where are you seeing that it is a cut down version of Windows 8.

You are correct, the surface pro is windows 8 Pro same as a desktop.

Originally Posted by sputnik2000

And it's still can run any Windows desktop applications. Can IPad run OSx programs ??? You wish.

The OS can run any windows programs. But what programs are actually going to be able to take advantage of that with the surfaces hardware?

What legacy windows applications do you need that are capable of running on this? As cool as it sounds, Windows RT, iOS, and Android have apps that complete most tasks, and more efficiently with the included battery.

My fear is that any legacy app that I need to run will outstrip the performance of the surface pro, or will kill the battery so fast it will make the device useless.

People talk about portability. Don't think that people realize you can get a MacBook Air that is only 1 inch wider and deeper than the surface.

Also is only .3 inches thicker and weighs less than 1lbs more than the surface and has the exact same resolution For 1099.00. This is also for 128 flash storage. 4 gig ram and an i5 processor

Ok so it doesn't have a touch screen. Guess what everyone. Windows and osx apps are built for a mouse not a finger. It will be much more difficult to use a full blown OS with your finger than a mouse.

Also I would like to see someone sit on a couch or something and be able to use the surface with its kickstand and keyboard on your lap. To me the design is only built for a flat surface.

Also not to mention only one view angle.

Sure you can take off the keyboard and use as a tablet so I guess that is what this has going for it

In my opinion for 1099 plus 330 you can get an air and an iPad mini and have the best of both worlds. Also a huge plus for iOS users is I can answer FaceTime and iMessages on any apple iOS devices or osx mountain lion device. As well as view all my photostream instantly.

Just my thoughts though. Sorry for any bad grammar. I'm just dumb haha

It really depends on what you want to use it for. For personal use an iPhone and iPad suit my needs. In terms of a computer, for serious software, either OSX or Windows suits me fine. I have both just in case

For work however I have no choice and must use Windows. The vast majority of the software I use simply is not made for OSX, and never will be. The Surface Pro could potentially give me the benefits of an iPad and the flexibility of a full OS. It would allow me to do quick jobs, in cramped conditions, without have to find space to set up a laptop. It may be a niche market but there are many industries in similar situations. Assuming the Surface Pro isn't a hunk of junk then Microsoft will clean up in this kind of area.

Just my two cents...
My belief on why the iPad succeeded so well is because iOS is lite; unless Microsoft have created a miracle, running a heavy operating system designed for both powerful desktops and low-end laptops/tablets isn't going to work! I have Windows 8 on my desktop with a 6-core Xeon X5680, 2 GTX 480s and an SSD and although it runs fast in most cases, it still jitters now and again and crawls a little whereas my iPad runs flawlessy even though it's loaded with apps (including Cydia apps).

If Microsoft have managed to sync the OS perfectly with the device only then I'd say it should be worth that much but without evidence of that or a great number of developers building the app store then really this is just your typical dog vs cat debate.

It really depends on what you want to use it for. For personal use an iPhone and iPad suit my needs. In terms of a computer, for serious software, either OSX or Windows suits me fine. I have both just in case

For work however I have no choice and must use Windows. The vast majority of the software I use simply is not made for OSX, and never will be. The Surface Pro could potentially give me the benefits of an iPad and the flexibility of a full OS. It would allow me to do quick jobs, in cramped conditions, without have to find space to set up a laptop. It may be a niche market but there are many industries in similar situations. Assuming the Surface Pro isn't a hunk of junk then Microsoft will clean up in this kind of area.

You can always dual boot on a MacBook. And my initial point was that the 11 inch MBA literally only takes up a total of 1 inch more space than the surface.

So really anywhere you have space for the surface you have space for a laptop. I would argue that with the way the kickstand works and the keyboard you actually may need slightly larger area for the surface

Think about on an airplane. Your surface scoots back a few inches and the kickstand pushes in and your tablet falls over. Sitting in the terminal. I'd like to see someone use the surface on there lap with the keyboard and do heavy typing.

Not saying the device is useless but like the guy above me said. The iPad is popular because its lite. It does what daily productivity tasks need to be done in an efficient way

You can always dual boot on a MacBook. And my initial point was that the 11 inch MBA literally only takes up a total of 1 inch more space than the surface.

So really anywhere you have space for the surface you have space for a laptop. I would argue that with the way the kickstand works and the keyboard you actually may need slightly larger area for the surface

Think about on an airplane. Your surface scoots back a few inches and the kickstand pushes in and your tablet falls over. Sitting in the terminal. I'd like to see someone use the surface on there lap with the keyboard and do heavy typing.

Not saying the device is useless but like the guy above me said. The iPad is popular because its lite. It does what daily productivity tasks need to be done in an efficient way

With a laptop I need a flat surface to work with. Like a table. With a Windows based tablet I don't need any surface at all. I don't necessarily need a physical keyboard for small jobs. A MacBook doesn't solve everything. So like I said the Surface will find its place and seems well suited to certain tasks that nothing else currently on the market can really do. Not with the same portability anyway. It potentially fills a gap in our industry that we have needed for many years. Will only know once real world testing is done.

they went the cheaper smaller option with the mini and will now do the same to have something between an ipad and macbook air

They're not going to make something in between...they already have two devices: iPad and iPad Mini. The whole point of making the iPad was to have something between the MB/MBA/MBP and the iPhone. If anything they would just increase the iPad. And since Mac OS is moving more towards iOS with some features there would be no reason to create yet another device.

For some people the Surface Pro will be great, they won't mind the pricing because that's what they want. I think the SP has a lot of potential. I'm still waiting for the next iPad which I hope gets a nice upgrade.

With a laptop I need a flat surface to work with. Like a table. With a Windows based tablet I don't need any surface at all. I don't necessarily need a physical keyboard for small jobs. A MacBook doesn't solve everything. So like I said the Surface will find its place and seems well suited to certain tasks that nothing else currently on the market can really do. Not with the same portability anyway. It potentially fills a gap in our industry that we have needed for many years. Will only know once real world testing is done.

Agree to disagree I guess haha. I do agree that a MacBook is not the answer to everything. Nothing is the answer to everything.

Who would like to have an iPad that could run iOS & OSX? It can either dual-boot or have a dedicated window (like Windows 8). This would satisfy both type of users.
If you're a MacBook user, then get a case w/ a keyboard. If you're a tablet user, then u can do w/out a keyboard.

Who would like to have an iPad that could run iOS & OSX? It can either dual-boot or have a dedicated window (like Windows 8). This would satisfy both type of users.
If you're a MacBook user, then get a case w/ a keyboard. If you're a tablet user, then u can do w/out a keyboard.

This idea would make everyone happy! ;-)

Lol. Truthfully the thought of osx on a touch screen seems awesome. However when I think about it I think it may be more of a pain in the *** then anything. Just my thoughts though

Lol. Truthfully the thought of osx on a touch screen seems awesome. However when I think about it I think it may be more of a pain in the *** then anything. Just my thoughts though

That's what I'm sayin, though!

If you 'occasionally' use OSX on a touch screen then it won't be that big a deal. But if you need to do more complex tasks in OSX, then you'll need a keyboard and a trackpad, magic mouse, etc. or a keyboard that has a trackpad built into it. The OSX side would allow us to download any type of software and even run a Virtual computer for Windows, Ubuntu, etc., etc.

This way, we have the 'tablet side' when we need it or the 'laptop side' when we need that!!!

My problem with the prices are 2 things.
The touch cover is not standard, if I'm buying an tablet for $1000 and it's suppose to be a laptop as well, it should come standard with it. I shouldn't spend another $120 for the keyboard when this is suppose to be a laptop replacement. The 2nd problem is storage space. Which is why I chose the $1000 128 GB model. If you have a 64 GB laptop, take away the 5 GBs or so for software and security. Your down to a MAX of 59 GBs of space to install apps/software. Not including documents and others. So say you spend another $80 on a 500 GB external hard drive and saved every thing except programs to it, your still only able to install 59 GBs of programs, and if this is a laptop replacement, I need the 128 GBs of storage for just programs. An i5 with 4 GBs of ram is well enough to do basic tasks on a laptop. But installing apps from the App Store along with software downloads, you would run out of space way to quick with only 59 GBs. Think, iTunes + office alone will take up around 4 GBs of space. So your already looking at 1000 for device, 120 for cover, and 80 for extra harddrive. Total with tax upwards if around $1300. Just not worth it.